'US plan to bomb Iran'

Australia, Britain and Israel have "expressed interest" in a US
campaign to launch "surgical" bombing raids on Iran targeting the
Revolutionary Guard facilities, one of the US's leading
investigative reporters, Seymour Hersh, reports.

In a lengthy article in the latest issue of The New
Yorker, Hersh details how the US is making plans for a strike
on Iran, beefing up intelligence resources within the CIA and
shifting its rhetorical campaign in a bid to win support from the
American people should the strikes proceed.

Hersh says the Administration has stopped trying to justify the
campaign on the basis of curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions, to
redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle.

This is because there is a consensus within the intelligence
community that Iran is at least five years away from
obtaining a bomb, Hersh said in an interview on CNN on Sunday.

Hersh pointed to a speech US President George Bush made in
August to the American legion in which he said: "The attacks on our
bases and our troops by Iranian supplied munitions have increased
... the Iranian regime must halt these actions and, until it does,
I will take actions necessary to protect our troops."

He ended: "I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to
confront Tehran's murderous activities."

Since then Mr Bush has made a number of other comments that
suggest the Administration might still be hopeful of a diplomatic
solution and, in recent weeks, has prevailed upon France to assist
in dealing with Tehran.

A Pentagon spokesman in response to Hersh's inquiries said: "The
President has made it clear that the US Government remains
committed to a diplomatic solution with respect to Iran."

The White House declined to comment, and Hersh says he was
warned during his research that the President had yet to issue an
execute order on the plans, and that such an order may never be
issued.

But Hersh's article detailed conversations with numerous sources
in the Department of Defence, the CIA and former Administration
officials who have heard talk of the strike plans.

Hersh said the bombing plan has had its most positive reception
from Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

While Hersh did not mention Australia in the article, he told
CNN that there had been "expressions of interest" from Australia
and Israel for the strike plan.

"There's been expressions of interest from Australia, other
countries," he said.

"The Israelis, of course, have gone bananas. They're very upset
about the idea of not going. If you're going into Iran, the Israeli
position is very firm. They want us to go. And they want us to hit
hard. As an Israeli told me, if you run into a lion, you
either shoot it or ignore it. You don't pluck out its
eyebrows."

Australia's Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, was in the US
a month ago for briefings with defence officials and a meeting with
Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

He told reporters at the time that he had discussed Iran, but
declined to elaborate.

Hersh said the revised bombing plan with its tightened focus on
counter-terrorism was gathering support among the generals and
admirals in the Pentagon, who had been apprehensive about the
earlier broader bombing plan.

"The strategy calls for the use of sea-launched cruise missiles
and more precisely targeted ground attacks and bombing strikes,
including plans to destroy the most important Revolutionary Guard
training camps, supply depots and command-and-control facilities,"
Hersh wrote.

He said there were also plans to hit Iran's anti-aircraft
surface-to-air missile sites.

He said a Pentagon consultant on counter-terrorism had told him
that if the bombing campaign took place, it would be accompanied by
a series of what he called "short sharp incursions" by American
Special Forces into suspected Iranian training sites.